Uruguay are the Copa America champions

Some people who only look at English football may think that the name Diego Forlan is a bit of a joke character after a trying time at Manchester United but real followers of the game will understand his brilliance. Excellent spells with Villarreal and Atheltico Madrid, not to mention tremendous success with the Uruguay national team have shown the striker to be one of the best in the business at outing the ball in the back of the net.

Diego grabs the goals

Forlan once again showed this with two goals in the final as Uruguay beat Paraguay 3-0 with the other goal coming from Liverpool striker Luis Suarez. It was 2-0 at half-time with both strikers getting on the score sheet and the second half saw the Uruguayan team stay in full control before Forlan grabbed his second of the match in the final minute of the game. This started the celebrations slightly earlier and made for a sad night for Paraguay. Not to many people were fond of the way that Paraguay made their way to the final, playing for penalties but it was still a tactic that was good enough to knock Brazil out of the tournament.

A small nation with big achievements

For a nation of only 3.5 million people, Uruguay are currently showing a great run of form. Getting to the semi-finals of the World Cup last year was worthy of praise alone but to triumph in the Copa America for the 15th time now makes them the South American country with most triumphs in this tournament. They had stood level with bitter rivals Argentina on 14 wins each but this triumph places Uruguay back at the top of football in the continent.

The early success of the World Cup owed a lot to the skills of Uruguay and let’s not forget that they have won the tournament twice, including being the first ever World Cup champions. They also triumphed in Brazil in 1950, a result which arguably propelled the Brazillians into developing the change in football which saw them completely revamp their playing style to a form that is recognised today.

There may not be much time for the players to rest before returning to their clubs for the start of the new season but you can bet that there is still a party going on in Uruguay at the moment and probably for some time in the future as well!